Hey All!

I am experiencing a problem with my 4.5 CTD 600 and wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone has experienced the same or can help me pin point what is wrong with my truck.

Ok, here goes, Last week when traveling the interstate i noticed that my truck on the front drivers side felt like it was lagging bad and i could here a drone noise that was not due to my exhaust. Today when i started into work ...when i shifted from 4th to 3rd slowing down, then from 3rd to 2nd the front end of the truck started to shake (bad) and it felt like the engine was stuttering or wanting to quit....weird i know but i dont know how to describe it....

any suggestions or experiences would be much appreciated...hell i dont work the truck hard at all mainly drive at 65 mph Interstate 1,000 miles/week unloaded....now have 45,000 miles on it.


i appreciate your help!

 

I forgot, could it possibly be the ball joints, u joint?....

 

Mine just did the same thing. My U joints were bad.

 

Ramasaur:

U joints huh...man..i hope this is not a continuing problem, every 45,000 miles i would have to replace u joints...

 

I think its your aftermarket exhaust and taking out the silencer ring

Just kidding of course.

Torque converter?

Any check engine light?

 

Don't think it's a Torque Converter, unless they've started putting them in the Manual 6spds?

Have you changed/checked your fluid levels under the truck recently? With 45k on it you should've changed the frt & rear end fluid 3 times already.

U joints or possible front axle bearing going bad...

 

Guys thanks for the assistance....the u joint was bad....

 

You might want to replace all the Joints. Normally if one is bad, the others on the same shaft are also bad due to the wobble/vibration caused by the bad joint. I have replaced only one before, only to have it's buddy go bad a month or so later... replaced that one, and guess what...the cycle continued, the second bad one made the 1st one replace bad too..... moral: replace all! Saves lots of time and $$

 

Looks like this is becoming a common occurrence - I have heard of a lot of people having front end shake (sometimes described as death wobbles!) due to bad front wheel bearings, U-joints, and/or tie rod ends, or a combination of all three. Sometimes, one leads to another - if it shakes, the tie rod ends are going to loosen REAL FAST anyway.

Related to this, I realized that DC has quit using any kind of automatic hub or vacuum disconnect on the front axle to stop the axle shafts and front drive shaft from turning all the time, accelerating wear on the front axle and drive shaft u-joints. The also seem to think the new unit front hubs are lifetime hubs! (I guess they are - they just have a very short lifetime!)

This is just that many more parts turning all the time that didn't before on part time trucks that had either a disconnect in the front axle or lockout hubs (either manual or automatic). I have seen some kits for current jeeps to replace the unitized, non-serviceable front hubs with a different hub and outer axle shaft, with replaceable and repackable timken type front wheel bearings, and lockout hubs (that actually help fuel economy!!) I wonder how long until I find one of these kits offered for our CTD powered Ram Heavy Duty's? The jeep size kits sell in the $600 to $800 range if I recall right - I'd give that or a little more to eliminate the problems I am reading about in front hubs and front u-joints!